(latino-review.com)
Warner Brothers may found their director to lead the Biblical epic film “Gods and Kings.”
According to Deadline, the studio wanted Steven Spielberg on this project since last September. And now it’s possible he may sign by the end of the month.
“Gods and Kings” was described as a “Braveheart” version of the Moses story, as an insider described it to Deadline.
“[It’s about] him coming down the river, being adopted, leaving his home, forming an army, and getting the Ten Commandments,” explained the insider.
Despite high expectations from Warner Brothers on this film, the movie is not considered to be in 3D. The studio expects the production to start either in March or April next year.
Intl. 3D Society to Honor Scorsese
(variety.com) The International 3D Society has named "Hugo" director Martin Scorsese as 2012 recipient of its Harold Lloyd Award.
Scorsese, who was nominated for an Oscar as best director, led "Hugo," which was shot on 3D, to 11 Oscar noms in all, including potential kudos for cinematography, art direction, editing and visual effects. He will receive the honor at a black- tie ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 1st.
"Marty Scorsese has embodied Harold Lloyd's vision and passion for captivating movie fans around the world for his entire career," said Suzanne Lloyd, Lloyd's granddaughter and chair of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, who will make the presentation. "With 'Hugo' he has shared his love of filmmaking and filmmakers, in 3D, which would also have thrilled Harold."
"For all of us involved in the 3D creative process, Mr. Scorsese's contribution this year with 'Hugo' is an artistic achievement we all celebrate," said DreamWorks Animation's Jim Mainard, chair of I3DS.
The Award was established by the 3D Society and the Lloyd Family to annually celebrate filmmakers for groundbreaking artistic and technical achievement in 3D.
"Mr. Lloyd was a lifelong advocate for 3D movies, although technology never allowed him to realize his dream," said society prexy Jim Chabin. "But in joining last year's recipient, James Cameron, Mr. Scorsese has not only realized that dream, but he has produced a work of art. Added to his dedication to film restoration and preservation, we simply can't imagine a more worthy recipient of our highest honor."
"Hugo," Scorsese's first 3D feature, was shot in London and Paris and is based on the novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret."
At its annual Creative Arts Awards the society will also present its Lumiere statuette for distinguished achievement in 15 categories, including film and television. Lloyd's great, great granddaughter, actress Jackie Lloyd, will assist presenters on-stage at this year's honors.
Along with legends Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and others, Lloyd was one of the founders of Hollywood's original comedic and creative community. In a 1923 interview he predicted that "the person who produces perfect stereo motion-pictures will have accomplished the greatest achievement since the first motion-picture."
Lloyd founded the Hollywood 3D Society in 1950 with Edgar Bergen and actor Sterling Holloway (the voice of Disney's Winnie the Pooh'). He served as its first President.
Animal Logic Scores A Double Win
(australiancreative.com.au)Australian visual effects and animation studio, Animal Logic, has picked up two awards for its creative work.
Animal Logic, which has offices in Sydney and Los Angeles, has won the inaugural AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) award for Best Visual Effects for its computer animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. The company has also won an International Mobius Award for its Hyundai Electra TV commercial, entitled Shell.
Grant Freckelton, Animal Logic art director, said it was an honour to win the AACTA award for the 2010 Warner Bros animated fantasy feature.
“It was great to get the award for Guardians,” he said. “Every single shot in the film was a technical triumph. We took technology and applied it creatively to an imaginative fantasy world in stereoscopic 3D, with almost everything you see generated within the shot, and then we put together some really good looking, impressive sequences.”
Animal Logic producer Morgan MacCuish said she was excited to win the Mobius award for the Hyundai commercial, which was shot in one room on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
“The project took about two months and around 20 artists, from design and concept, modellers, lighters, riggers, surfacing, animators and compositioners, so this award reflects the seamless work they all did,” she said.
Disney Congratulates "REAL STEEL" On Its VFX Oscar Nod
(ramascreen.com)The Academy Has Spoken! REAL STEEL was mentioned as an Oscar nominee for Best VFX category.
Below please find a special brief message from Disney regarding this morning’s Academy Award nominations…
“As announced today, we are thrilled that REAL STEEL (on the same day and date as its home entertainment debut) has been nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards for its great Visual Effects. This is the second Academy Award nomination for Erik Nash (previously nominated for I, Robot in 2004) and first-time Academy Award nominations for John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg.”
"Captain America" Sequel Heads Into Production By Years' End
Neal McDonough who nailed the part of Dum Dum Dugan in the first Captain America film, did an interview with IMDB Television blog while promoting his character in the third season of Justified.
In the interview he dropped some tidbits about the Cap sequel and here is what he had to say…
Q: I understand you’re going to reprise your CAPTAIN AMERICA role.
McDonough: Yeah, they’re planning (to go into production for) for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time. So they’re going to do THOR 2 and as soon as THOR has wrapped, they’ll do CAP 2. Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into NICK FURY because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything.
Q: Why is that?
McDonough: Because it’ll be me and Sam Jackson. In the real Marvel universe, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man…And I just pray that they have a 1970s setting, because I want to see Sam Jackson with lambchops kicking people’s asses for Marvel universe. It would just be awesome. And to work with Sam would be a treat. We’ve become friendly over the years.
Q: It sounds like you were a fan of the comic beforehand.
McDonough: Absolutely. I’m very well aware of the Marvel universe, and to be part of it is such a blessing. To go back to London and shoot there for four months, that was just a great year.
Disney's 3D Animated Reissues Indicates Artistic, Technical Stagnation
(nique.net) It is fortunate that Walt Disney Animation Studios has forged a stockpile of quality films to rerelease in 3D during periods of creative drought.
It is doubtful that the executives behind the reanimation of Beauty and the Beast simply wish to expose the film to fresh audiences as a gesture of good will. At the very least, this particular rerelease draws attention to the shortage of technological and artistic innovation that plagues Disney’s most recent cinematic output.
Linda Woolverton’s rendition of an 18th-century French fairytale shows no serious signs of detriment: Belle’s (Paige O’Hara) bookish appeal continues to enchant audiences and dispel the traditionally feminine qualities of Disney’s past heroines, and Beast’s (Robby Benson) inner contention between the human and inhuman poles of his existence remains emotionally poignant.
This 1991 production may lack the cynical humor and pop-cultural references that came to characterize its successors, but the film manages to compensate with a sort of puerile charm largely absent from Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Beauty’s rerelease additionally speaks for the sudden surge of experimental computer animation that took hold of the industry during the late 1980s and prompted a number of major-league entrepreneurs, including Steve Jobs, to invest in its development.
The marriage of hand-drawn animation and computer-generated imagery seen in the iconic ballroom sequence undoubtedly stirs a pleasant sense of nostalgia, but it also serves as a reminder of the artistic experimentation that has more or less taken leave of Disney’s recent animated features—the fact that the Walt Disney Company has resurrected this piece of work for an additional run conjures an image of a has-been high school football star sipping whisky before a case of old trophies.
The digital 3D does the film no serious injustice, but it fails to add dimension to the storyline or the artistic vision of co-directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale: The added expense primarily culminates in multiple layers of 2D animation within a single frame.
It’s no secret that Disney’s upcoming line of 3D rereleases is first and foremost a ploy for commercial attention; however, this particular film choice simply lacks the dynamic visual landscape that 3D projection tends to usually flatter.
Beauty hasn’t aged for the worse in the 20 years that have passed since its theatrical debut, but its rerelease mostly comes off as a conciliatory and insincere Valentine’s Day gift.
Disney may continue to artistically and financially rest on the laurels of its second Golden Age in lieu of producing innovative material, but it could be worse: they could also rerelease The Little Mermaid in 4D.
[Editor’s Note: Disney’s imagineers are already hard at work on adapting The Little Mermaid for a 3D theatrical rerelease next year using new “4D modeling” technology.]
Cutting Edge VFX: Unfolding the World of “Bunraku”
(crunchyroll.com)Bunraku, the second film from acclaimed director Guy Moshe, is a unique blend of cutting-edge computer graphics and choreographed live action, comic book and video game styles, gritty reality and fantasy, and samurai and spaghetti western genres.
Crime boss Nicola the Woodcutter (Ron Perlman) commands an army of thugs headed by nine deadly assassins in a post-war future without guns. Citizens of the small town, terrorized by Nicola’s regime, wait in hope of a hero to save them. A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and young samurai (Japanese star Gackt) soon cross paths and, with guidance from the local bartender (Woody Harrelson), join forces in a quest to overthrow Nicola’s tyrannical reign. At Nicola’s side are Alexandra (Demi Moore), the femme fatale, and Killer No. 2 (Kevin McKidd), Nicola’s lethal right-hand man.
Origami Originality
The one-of-a-kind film, which debuted on September 30, 2011 in a limited release, delivers an impressive cast and a wealth of eye-catching, awe-inspiring visuals—all within a $25 million production budget. Bunraku is written and directed by Moshe, based on a story by Boaz Davidson.
Moshe’s Picturesque Films, Ram Bergman Productions, and Snoot Entertainment—all in Los Angeles—partnered to produce the film and bring Moshe’s vision to cinematic life. To realize the truly unique and strong visual style envisioned for Bunraku, the production team elicited the help of Oliver Hotz, owner and visual effects (VFX) supervisor at Origami Digital LLC in Los Angeles.
Moshe decided early on that he would tell the story of Bunraku by filming entirely on a green-screen stage and using a wealth of VFX and computer graphic imagery (CGI). The crew filmed the live action over a 12-week period and on roughly 30 sets at MediaPro Studios in Romania.
More: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-press-release/2012/01/ 19-1/unfolding-the-world-of- bunraku
Sony Imageworks Doubles Vancouver Footprint
(officespaceinvancouver.ca)Sony Imageworks doubled their footprint in Vancouver recently by leasing an additional 16,000 square feet in Yaletown at 990 Homer Street (pictured), two blocks from their existing building at 1128 Homer Street. Originally seeking to expand within their existing building (owned by video game deity and president of Microsoft’s interactive division Don Mattrick) the ground floor tenant was unable to find a suitable relocation alternative and Sony was forced to look elsewhere.
Sony’s expansion mirrors of string of expansions by visual effects companies in the city, including Pixar, Technicolor, Scanline VFX and Digital Domain. The foray and growth of US studios in the Vancouver market was triggered primarily by the BC government’s tax and incentives credits offered to animation and visual effects companies, along with the Siggraph visual effects convention in summer 2011.
Other major studios are expected to follow the trend by establishing a presence in Vancouver in 2012.
No Nomination For “Digital Make-up”
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)Well our long international nightmare is over: Andy Serkis was not nominated for an Oscar after trying to take credit for the work of countless VFX animators, artists, and TDs who worked on Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
I found the whole debate silly as it was a diversion from the real issues effecting the VFX industry. What’s sad is that as Andy continued his campaign for an Oscar, he started doubling-down on his persistent ability to show how little he knows about the process.
He kept referring to the work as “digital make-up”, as if the Caesar model was just wrap-deformed onto his motion capture performance. Animator and blogger Tim Borelli who started a rebuttal to Serkis’s campaign with an open letter to him, recently found a smoking gun that pretty much puts this debate to rest:
Look at these 2 “Andy Serkis/Caesar Morphs” that Andy has been promoting on his Facebook page:
http://vimeo.com/27743347
http://vimeo.com/27787023
Now look at this animation demo reel:
http://vimeo.com/12630822
This very talented animator’s shot breakdown notes that in Caesars’s Goodbye (link 1 above), “Everything (from 0:00 to 0:17) was keyframe animated, except for the character’s spine where mocap data was used & polished.” Also, at 0:44, he notes that the very same shot from link 2 above was animated entirely by hand.
I’ve posted Apes animator Jeffrey Engel’s reel above and the evidence is pretty compelling. Some of the most important shots that Andy Serkis used in his Oscar campaign and claimed to be just “digital makeup” were actually almost all keyframe animated.
The irony for me in watching Mr. Engel’s reel is this:
Here is a VFX animator who must be meticulous and honest about the work he did on Apes so he could get his next job.
And here is Andy Serkis who was dishonest about the work he did on Apes so he could get an Oscar.
Soldier On.
Will Next Gen Console Games Mark the Demise of CGI Cut-Scenes?
(animegenius.com)If we look into the evolution of video games, it is clear that with every successive Generation there have been a list of constant changes that game developers concoct to meet the gaming demands as well as the desire to overcome the graphical fidelity and various hurdles to keep up with the bump in hardware specs.
With the evolution of the past couple of game generations it would be clear that there has been a lot of changes and routes that the games have taken us when it comes to choosing a medium for story-telling in games.
The Playstation 1 generation of games were very much limited when it comes to the disc space and hence had very limited voice-acting and full length cut scenes so as to save some disc space.
With the advent of the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube, that hurdle was successfully overcome and a huge emphasis was given to the depth of story telling in games thanks to the utilization of DVDs as gaming media.
To further immerse the gamers in the environment the use of CGI cutscenes was introduced with a lot of heavy-hitters and successful franchises like God of War I and II, Final Fantasy X and XII, Prince of Persia Trilogy, and so on.
But when we look into the current gen games and the introduction of Blu-ray dics with Gigabytes of space and technical prowess, developers concocted an idea to immerse gamers further by totally removing the CGI cutscenes and including totally MoCap(Motion Capture) driven, gaming experience with full voice-overs.
Developers felt that having CGI cutscenes in games between sequences of the gameplay would make it a very Disjointed experience. They further laid emphasis on this fact giving them a huge priority by introducing all cutscenes using the In-game engine to make it less dis-jointed. Recently every single game trailer shows a caption in the beginning that all game footage shown was created with the in-game engine without any use of CGI.
Though there are still a lot of Japanese game developers who still stick to the CGI usage for cutscenes and important game events like Square Enix, who since times memorial have been the graphical powerhouses when it comes to CGI cutscenes which sometimes even exceed the quality of major animated movies. Final Fantasy XIII and Tomb Raider are great examples of how far the CGI cutscenes have evolved in terms of graphical fidelity and sheer horsepower.
Most of the Western game developers have totally dumped the concept of using CGI action sequences in games. God of War III, Heavy Rain and Uncharted franchise are prime examples. This doesn’t mean they are bad games even by a mile but it definitely shows the different methods that developers adapt to portray the storyline in games even without using a single frame of CG content.
I definitely liked the gruesome CGI Cutscenes of GOW I and II better than those in GOWIII that used the in game engine.
After all this rant it can be guessed that we might never see CGI cutscenes in the Upcoming console generation games which might be considered either good or bad based on personal gaming preferences and what people might consider a Dis-jointed experience. But one thing is certain Japanese game developers might continue the traditional use of CGI in the upcoming console generation of games as well.
Thought the Current generation of games have produced some near-CG-esque graphical quality with the detailed in-engine cutscenes but they lack that movie feel we once saw in every single CGI driven cutscene of the PS2 console generation.
Obama Speech Touches On VFX Issues
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)The recent State of the Union speech by US President Barack Obama was the final one before the 2012 elections in November. The President touched upon a very big issue effecting the US VFX industry: Subsidies.
The President has ordered the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit tasked to essentially pick up the pace on trade violations by countries competing with the US:
It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they’re heavily subsidized.You can read the whole speech here.
If you read my blog often, I regularly argue that most VFX work goes to places where US Studios can obtain rebates from state and international governments.
Generally speaking, let’s say if a group of VFX facilities based in London, Canada, and California competitively bid about the same price for a project, you can expect the US Studio to choose London or Canada because their government offers money directly as a percentage of the amount of work done in their location.
If it sounds like a bribe well it actually is and it’s illegal under rules set forth by the WTO. Global free trade agreements between countries are meant to liberalize economies toward market capitalism. These subsidies are driven by command economics and it is up to each country to challenge violations through the WTO.
Cynically speaking, this speech by The President could all be rhetoric however given that it is an election year and the jobless rate is high, now might be the most prudent time to challenge such subsidies.
So what should be done now? Well I’d pay attention to how this Trade Enforcement Unit develops and see what new mechanism they place to resolve trade issues. This is an issue that unites VFX workers and facility owners so perhaps this might be a good spearhead to start something much larger. Scott Ross has been trying to lobby for a creation of a trade association and perhaps this might be a worthy endeavor for those motivated in making California more evenly matched when it comes to fair pricing.
The worst thing that could happen is nothing and the status quo continues. However what if something did happen? Well then a potential challenge could eliminate the subsidies and return California VFX to a more competitive position.
Soldier On.
What's In The Works At Dreamworks Animation?
(seekingalpha.com)Recently, I wrote here about some possible explanations as to why Dreamworks Animation (DWA) seemed out of favor with investors, along with some counterpoints to those explanations. In response, one Seeking Alpha message board poster raised an interesting point worthy of exploration. Investors may be concerned with what DWA has coming out next.
DWA has two movies scheduled for release this year: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, currently due out on June 8, 2012, and Rise of the Guardians, currently scheduled for release on November 21, 2012. The Madagascar series stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith, among other celebrity voices, as a group of animals that have to brave the real world after life in a New York Zoo, leading to various comedic adventures. This time around, like the comedic Griswold family searching for fish-out-of-water-sequel-success decades ago, the comedy leads the protagonists to Europe. Unlike the Griswold family, viewers will have the option of viewing the adventure in 3D.
Rise of the Guardians is based on the upcoming William Joyce series of novels the Guardians of Childhood, and is being co-directed by Joyce. In the film version, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy must work together to help save child-kind from the Bogeyman. If marketing familiar children's characters sounds like a familiar strategy to you, that's because you may recognize it from DWA's Shrek series, which featured long-familiar fairy tale characters portrayed in unconventional ways, leading to a successful franchise.
In addition, last March, DWA announced its planned release slate through 2014. Since the Madagascar sequel will receive audience and investor response to box office results sooner than the rest of DWA's slate, I will focus on some of the factors that may impact the financial results of that movie in this article.
1. Sequels often do not gross as much as originals.
The first Madagascar movie was released in 2005 and grossed $193,595,521 domestically, while the sequel, Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa was released in 2008 and grossed slightly less, at $180,010,950, according to Boxofficemojo.com, which I will use as the source for all box office information in this article. As mentioned in my previous DWA article, the global market is becoming increasingly important for Hollywood, so, it's worth noting that Madagascar 2 actually grossed more worldwide, grossing $603,900,354 vs. $532,680,671 for the original. Both movies were equally liked by audiences who voted at the IMDB web site, each currently rated 6.7 out of 10. While a bad sequel certainly may not do as well as the original, with growing worldwide film revenues sequels have the opportunity to do better, even if audiences feel the sequels are equal in quality.
2. Why are a bunch of zoo animals going to Europe? Don't they know there's a major financial crisis there?
If we look at the foreign numbers for the last Madagascar movie, we can see that the film did quite well in many European countries, grossing in excess of $40 million in both France, and Germany; about $35 million in Italy, and the U.K.; $20 million in Spain, and depending on whether your grade school geography teacher taught you Russia was part of Europe or Asia, over $40 million in that country, too. So it's not surprising that the Madagascar crew have wound their way into a European traveling circus, likely to visit popular European destinations, as can be seen in the trailer for Madagascar 3.
3. Will audiences like the story?
DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg recognizes that a good story is the most important aspect of a successful film, as he outlined in a memo written in his days as head of Disney's (DIS) film studios in 1991, according to lettersofnote.com. For those of us who haven't seen the Madagascar 3 script, we can only look at the film's writer and director to try to predict whether it will have a good story, but while doing so, investors must consider the words from the 1991 memo: "... there is nothing scientific about the movie business."
Noah Baumbach is credited as the writer of the film. He previously co-wrote 20th Century Fox's (a unit of NWS) stop-animation flick Fantastic Mr. Fox with director Wes Anderson. The duo also worked together on the Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
Fantastic Mr. Fox earned an impressive 93% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with 80% of audiences liking the film. It was also nominated for a Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. However, results at the Box Office were weak compared to other recent animated features, with the film only grossing over $46 million worldwide. That may appear worrisome to more risk-averse shorter-term investors, but I believe that talented writers who can pen the type of subtle absurdist comedy of movies like Fantastic Mr. Fox or Life Aquatic, possess the talent and skill necessary to write the kind of humor that will please the kid and parent fan base of the Madagascar series. Further Eric Darnell, who co-directed the first two Madagascar movies with Tom McGrath returns for the third installment, and accordingly has the experience to convey the styles of comedy he thinks are necessary to succeed in this franchise.
As my last article mentioned, Dreamworks' only 2011 releases, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Puss in Boots, were among the top grossing films worldwide of 2012. And it was just announced they have both been nominated for the Best Animated Feature for this year's Academy Awards. While this is impressive given that there was more competition in this category this year than in the days where DWA and Pixar were the only games in computer animation town, it is also proof that Katzenberg is able to inspire those involved with DWA to create the kinds of stories that global audiences, and in the case of this year, members of the Academy, will enjoy. So while DWA had a large number of shares short as of December 30, 2011, given Katzenberg's ability to do well with sequels, understand international markets, and retain talented screenwriters, hopefully this will collectively lead to results at the box office that live up to DWA's investors' dreams for its near and longer term slate of releases.
Why Animation Directors Are Taking Over Live Action Hollywood
(whatculture.com)On the audio commentary for his Pixar film ‘The Incredibles’, director Brad Bird proclaims that he will punch the next person he hears refer to animation as a genre rather than an art form. Often belittled as an attraction aimed primarily at young audiences, over the past decade animation has found a wider and more adult audience on the big screen. World cinema has acted almost as a breading ground for animation directors creating vibrant, emotional, funny and engaging films. Chico & Rita from Spain, Persepolis from France and Waltz with Bashir from Israel were all award winning, highly regarded and best of all, widely distributed animation films aimed at an adult audience. Pixar’s Up, a computer-animated feature, even opened the Cannes Film Festival in 2009! So why is it that at this exciting time two of North America’s most interested and talented animation directors take the leap from one art form to another and make their live action directorial debuts, and what attracts a filmmaker to take this path?
Brad Bird has just seen the release of his first live action film ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas across the world and it has been a huge success. Bird has displayed a skillful touch when creating the bonds that form between people on screen, which can be seen across a wide range of characters in his work. From the subtle relationship between boy and huge robot in his criminally under looked The Iron Giant to the emotional journey that Remy and Linguini take in Ratatouille. So how does this fit in with a Hollywood action franchise? The answer is, quite well. Bird creates a team around the central character Ethan Hunt that nicely plays off the main characters limitations, and also creates some much-needed comic relief. All the cast receives their fare share of screen time, and although it all comes back to Cruise at the end of the day (it is after all, a Tom Cruise production) no one feels shortchanged.
When looking at the many differences between animation and live action filmmaking the most obvious difference is the limitations that are posed in a live action setting by comparison. Bird appears to hit these issues head on and doesn’t let anything stop him, testing the limits of live action filmmaking. The endless stream of gadgets that Simon Pegg’s Benji throw out is reminiscent of the futuristic scope of Syndrome’s lair in Birds Previous film The Incredibles, both captivating and ridiculous at the same time but always innovative. When creating a scene when animating the camera can be positioned pretty much anywhere, the set changed and shaped in a style that is not possible on a busy live action set. Bird and his DOP Robert Elswit seem to pretty much ignore these limitations, and see filming with an Imax camera 130 floors up the tallest building in the world a challenge; and the results are breathtaking.
Some of the smaller details of Bird’s film making technique are lost in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, but as a blockbuster it gets an A! Bird challenges the limits of live action filming, and warps the familiar franchise into something that resembles his own directorial style.
Andrew Stanton is a colleague of Bird’s at Pixar, and has been involved in some of its biggest and most successful releases to date, both as a writer on such hits as Toy Story and as a director with Finding Nemo and Wall E. Stanton will be making his live action debut next year with an adaptation of Edgar Allen Burroughs Barsoom series, often referred to as John Carter of Mars, a popular favorite for nearly a century. Stanton is quite literally taking on the world here. Well, Mars, to be precise. Whilst Bird specializes in the close relationships that form between people, Stanton deftly handles a command of character and creates films centered around individuals often lost within a wide, highly detailed world. In Finding Nemo Stanton stunningly re-creates the ocean from a fish’s point of view, and in Wall E we are literally taken us to the stars and back following a cute robot!
Stanton seems to have found the perfect project for his first live action debut, and one, which he has, a personnel passion for. The plot plays to his strengths, surrounding the adventures of John Cater, a civil war vet lost in space after being transported to Mars, and to a wide new world. And I mean a wide, wide world! Including atleast 3 new races, an alien war and serious global environmental issues. To bring Mars to the big screen Stanton has combined a lengthy live action shoot (filming took place in the deserts of Utah and studios in London) with a long post-production schedule, referred to as Principle Digital Photography by the director. Stanton is testing the limits by combining two different art forms in the production of John Carter, rarely done before on such a huge scale.
By the look off the trailers and production stills already released John Carter will be a big film and has even been referred to as Disney’s Avatar. A tall order yes, but come March 2012 I hope Stanton will pleasantly surprise us all.
Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton are not the first animators to make the leap to feature film direction, and they are following in the footsteps of such directors as Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton. Two film makers who emphasis the importance of detail within the frame and create new worlds within their films. It seems that a possible attraction to live action filmmaking could be the opportunity to push to boundaries, to create whole new worlds combining both live action and animation filmmaking disciplines or to push Tom Cruise out of a 130 floors plus building and film him climbing up the sides. Whatever the reason it looks as if both directors will be bring their own style, technique and imagination to their films, whether live action or animation.
Canada Basks in Role as Global Special Effects Hub
(physorg.com) Whether it's creating a car chase that erupts in an explosion or conjuring up a bloody battle scene thronging with warriors, Canada -- and especially this region sometimes called "Hollywood North" -- is increasingly where movie studios are turning.
Business is booming with more than enough work to go around despite fierce competition among studios vying for contracts and talent.
According to the movie industry bible the Hollywood Reporter magazine, more than 2,000 people are employed by the special effects trade in Vancouver -- a figure likely to grow by several hundred by year's end.
The majority of clients are major American studios, some of whom first came to the area to avoid the 2008 Hollywood writers strike and the US economic crisis, and were then happy enough with what they found here to stick around.
Some have even opened up their own subsidiaries here. Famed American film studios likes Pixar, Sony Pictures Imagework are among the Hollywood companies to create Canadian outposts in the Vancouver area.
The American companies are lured by a local tax break of 17.5% and various other incentives tailored to attracting special effects and computer animation projects in British Columbia.
The government here first began offering a bundle of tax incentives in 2003 to woo the then-nascent special effects and animation production industry.
The favorable tax terms serve as a magnet for what is now a thriving industry, which works on some 250 films each year and provides employment for about 30,000 local workers.
Robert Wong, vice president for Tax Credits and Development at the non-profit British Columbia Film and Media, told AFP that while there were only seven productions that applied for the tax credit in 2004, there were 174 last year, valued at around 1.6 billion Canadian dollars.
-- Demand is so great --
And Richard Brownsey, president of the local film society, said the meteoric growth is likely to only continue.
"It's a virtuous circle," he said, adding the "professionalism, quality of work, tax refunds encourage studios to do their post-production here. It is creating more jobs."
Meanwhile, the Canadian branch of Zoic Studio, a visual effects company in Los Angeles, says there is no end to the amount of work and the varying nature of the projects -- including work for the small screen.
"From concept alien spacecraft to the creation of virtual sets, we will achieve all the visual effects of the second season of 'Falling Skies'," the sci-fi television series from Steven Spielberg, says Ralph Maiers, special effects supervisor for the company.
"We have plenty of work to do," he said.
So plentiful is the work here that Zoic plans to double its workforce, currently 50 artists, by the end of the year, said company CEO Patrick Mooney.
But he said there is a fierce fight to find talented workers, with so many companies vying for workers from a finite labor pool
It "has probably never been more difficult to recruit" because the demand is so great, he said.
2010 saw a hiccup in the industry, with spending by foreign production companies down seven percent, raising concerns in some quarters.
But Karen Lamare, responsible for planning and communication for regional film production here, sees no reason to panic about the influx of new projects.
Despite occasional fluctuations, "we've been steady," with demand from clients, she said.
Wallace and Gromit Makers Aardman Axe Leprosy Joke
(telegraph.co.uk)The makers of Wallace and Gromit have dropped a joke about leprosy from their latest film after being accused of laughing at those suffering from the disease.
Aardman, the Oscar-winning makers of The Wrong Trousers, decided to cut the scene from The Pirates! — In An Adventure With Scientists after it was included in trailers that were distributed before its release in March.
It is the Bristol-based company’s first 3D feature and uses computer graphics to complement its usual stop-motion clay animation.
The scene showed the arrival of the Pirate Captain, voiced by Hugh Grant, on board a captive ship demanding gold. A crew member tells him: “Afraid we don’t have any gold old man, this is a leper-boat.” His arm then falls off, before he adds: “See.”
Campaigners lined up to criticise the joke, accusing Aardman of “laughing at the millions disabled by leprosy”. The criticism grew to such a level that the animators decided to re-edit the scene to stop the commotion sinking the swashbuckler before it hit the screens.
The Leprosy Relief Association Health in Action (LEPRA), a charity, expressed disbelief at the scene and claimed that audiences in India and Brazil, where leprosy was still a problem, had already complained.
